Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 13, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 5 963 72458 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 0 9 64 Northern Harrier 1 30 414 Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 109 5030 Cooper's Hawk 3 24 94 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 122 728 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 114 1150 3764 Rough-legged Hawk 0 8 16 Golden Eagle 2 34 52 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 1 6 59 Peregrine Falcon 2 7 101 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 135 2464 99864 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: While Lake Erie Metropark is currently open to the public, for the safety of our counter and volunteers we encourage visitors to follow along with the count virtually on HawkCount.org, or our Detroit River Hawk Watch Facebook page. There will be daily updates and photographs.If you do decide to join us in person, please help the counter and volunteers to follow their mandated safety protocols by refraining from approaching them. Please follow the recommended Covid 19 procedures by wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation. Stay safe! Weather: For those of you that are paraskevidekatriaphobes, this was your day to stay home. For the rest of us, committed to citizen science, we soldiered on despite the unsettling date. We faced a rising WNW wind that was at times robust and it was a good thing that the temps were in the forties, or it might have been an uncomfortable day for all concerned. As it was, we witnessed an ever changing tableau of cloud densities and formations. Shades of dark gray with only spotlights of sunshine illuminating the earth through rare windows in the solid deck alternated with periods of blue sky peppered with white brightly lit cumulus. It was one of those fall days that visually enthrall those that love this season. The barometer was above 30” to start but only just, it rose about a tenth before remaining steady the rest of the day. There had been a brief rain early in the morning and at times it looked threatening again and our irregular flights today reflected that apparent threat as it disappeared during the darkest hours. Raptor Observations: Today was not a day to be envied by those suffering from triskaidekaphobia that spent the day safely sheltered somewhere. The flights were sporadic and the strong winds possibly caused the birds to take split routes to deal with it. A lot of the bigger birds were buffeted by the strength of the headwind that they flew into so we saw unusual flight habits from red-tails today. We did manage to see one hundred and fourteen of them. Only five turkey vultures came our way today, most one at a time. Only one northern harrier was seen but it was a good one, a gray ghost spotted by Michala. Seven sharp-shins were seen along with three Cooper’s hawks. One merlin made the grade and two peregrines that appeared together were noted. Two golden eagles were seen during the day, one adult and one sub-adult. Non-raptor Observations: The winds kept most things at bay today but some tundra swans were seen high in the sky speeding along in their long lines. Our Bonaparte’s gulls, (named after a cousin of Napoleon), seemed to enjoy the winds and flew into them in repeating laps. A pair of hooded mergansers raced by at breakneck speed. Crows were not nearly as common as yesterday but some were seen. Ducks were seen in long strings migrating but very far off in the distance. Predictions: Tomorrow will be setting the table for rain later in the evening hours. Winds will increase from the SSW until reaching nearly 30 mph during midday on Sunday, (hint: wear hats with chin straps). The barometer will start falling during the watch hours and drop well below 30”as the rain passes through. Difficult to say what this may bring in the way of birds but there may be a rush for the exits before the rains arrives. The birds that fly will have to deal with a fairly strong wind that wants to blow them to the north but they may come back down south in our area. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kevin Georg (kevin.l.georg@gmail.com) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285